Syria: Lay Over in Paris

Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Subject - Syria: Lay Over in Paris

Hey y'all!

If you are receiving this e-mail, it is because someone on the Second Baptist Syria mission team has requested for you to receive e-mail updates from our team throughout the duration of our time in Syria. Also, the team members would like you to forward the updates on to people who may not have been on the list as well. :-) Now on to the good stuff......

We are currently on a 5 hour lay over in Paris - Charles DeGaulle airport at the moment. Everyone is doing well. We just had some sort of meal, supposed to be breakfast but ended up being something similar to lunch. :-) Leaving Houston went smoothly. We all got to sit together for the most part, which was nice. Half the team was in a "coma-like" sleep on the 10 hour flight to Paris, and was able to get some rest. This next flight, we all seem to be scattered throughout the plane - but it is only for 4-5 hours, so no biggie. The majority of us have been deep in study with books we have brought (Russell brought "Crazy Love" about God's intense love, Graham brought "Epicenter", Card brought "The Color of Oil", Krazer brought "Same Kind of Different As Me" and as for myself - I'm reading "Secret Believers" by Brother Andrew, just to name a few) as many of us have also been spending some time in God's Word and also doing some quality journaling. We are truly blessed to have such a great team in Syria, everyone is spiritually strong, ready and has a heart to serve. We spent some time in prayer as Sam (Glass) drove us to the airport, which a nice time to get re-focused. We were all discussing our feelings of anticipation, anxiousness, and excitement to just finally get to Syria and see what God will be doing in us - and through us.

Just a key to keep in mind for future e-mails, as I will need to type some things in code for our protection and safety:

P = Pray (or Prayer, i.e. P'ing = praying)
M = Mission (or missionary)

There may be more sensitive words I will have to include in this list, but please know I will not be able to decode them as I have done in this e-mail once we reach Damascus.

We should reach Damascus, Syria at 8pm in Syria time. I know we will be looking forward to getting good rest before we hit the ground running. Our hotel is actually right next door to Anania's house, which you can read about in Acts 9. It is where Paul did much witnessing to Jews, and was healed after seeing a vision of the Lord on the road to Damascus. Check out Acts 9 for more historical info on that, its truly incredible that we have the fortune to walk by it everyday while we are in Damascus. What an outstanding reminder of God's might, love, and grace.

Also, if you would like to respond to this message with encouraging e-mails or prayers for the team, I would be happy to read them aloud to the team. We are so grateful for your prayers, your support, and your encouragement. Those of you that know me, know that I have my blackberry with me here on the trip - and yes it works internationally! So, I'll be able to receive messages to relay to the team at just about any time during the day. This is of no extra cost to me, so send away! :-)

Again, thank you SO much for your prayers! It truly means the world to us, and we are certainly praying for y'all while we are here.

In Christ's love,
Kristina